RM6.5 Part Two

Part Two of this game was played on Wednesday 16th June 2010.
Players were Palle, Jan, Goeg and Oleg.

Hot for blood, Yuri crosses the barricade

Rocketman is charged by some desperate Uzbeks

Korsakov in his full armour emerges from his lair

Sir John retreats to find a better firing position

As the Bolshevik heavy armour trundles forward,
the Afghan armoured cars retreat to cover

In the heat of the night, the battle approaches its climax

And so we reached the last game in the current Rocketman season! Set up didn't take too long as there weren't as many ruins or buildings, and once an initiative roll had been won by the Bolsheviks the game got under way. Almost immediately the Bolshevik Commander, Yuri (Oleg) moved his tank forward, crossing the barricade to support Goeg's K4 which was lurking at the front of the armoured train and it was pretty obvious that the Bolsheviks were going to concentrate their fire against the Sikh's.

Stuck in a tight bottle neck with diminishing targets, Sir John (Palle) decided it was time to retreat and come around the other end of the train, which would enable him to get back into the fight. Only one K4 remained guarding the station building.

Rocketman, having entered the big railway workshop attic by way of a good doorway, waited patiently for the Bolsheviks below to climb up the stairs to attack him. Three Uzbeks obligingly did so and were met with a burst of SMG fire. One dropped and the other two rushed into a fist fight. Rocketman proved too tough however so one of the Uzbeks lobbed a grenade. With his flak jacket, armour and helmet however, Rocketman survived the blast and some what irked at being hit with a grenade in a fist fight, leaped on the Uzbeks and took them both out. Note to future antagonists, henchmen don't do well against hero's in a brawl.

Whilst this was going on Sir John was retreating as fast as possible to bring his tanks to a better firing position, but he wasn't moving fast enough so Lt Leftbridge-Smythe took evasive maneuvers. Blessed with high movement rolls, he moved his second tank to cover himself, and ordered the two Royal Afghan armoured cars to take cover. Facing two K4's, meant six heavy guns could be brought to bear and 'Lefty' wasn't taking any chances.

Then Korsakov ripped his way back into the smaller railway workshop, the K4 guarding the station building began to move forward to get a shot at the retreating British commander and the K1 light tank began to move forward to support the heavier K4's against Lt leftbridge-Smythe's forces. The six guns facing the Leftbridge-Smythe's Sikh's now came into play, firing volleys at Leftbridge-Smythe's second tank which was fast moving towards them along side the armoured train. The dice determined that this tank would prove unstoppable and it eventually came to park itself directly in front of the K4 containing the Uzbek commander. The battle was heating up. Lt Leftbridge-Smythe and his secondary tank were under constant fire but didn't have enough fire power to effectively fight back, upon seeing Korsakov waddle out into the open however (despite the darkness his presence was impossible to conceal) they opened fire on his, supported by the rear gun carriage of the train. Nothing happened. Korsakov's armour shrugged off the British fire with contempt.

At the station building, the K4 chasing Sir John came under fire, both from Sir John's trio of retreating tanks and from grenades tossed by the British soldiers who were still holding grimly on to the station house. As the K4 reached the burning wreckage of the Austin-Putilov armoured car, it was destroyed.

Now Rocketman moved to the other end of the big railway workshop attic to scan for targets and below him he saw Korsakov who was moving forward to use Yuri's K4 as cover. This proved fatal when Rocketman, using all his eight hero points in one go, tossed a grenade from behind. Even rolling a one, Rocketman couldn't fail and when Korsakov failed to survive the blast, unable to get out of his outer armoured hull in his armoured suit, the British had fulfilled the secondary victory criteria. Rocketman had defeated Korsakov in single combat.

Oleg and Goeg decided that the only way to win at this point was to go for the British infantry and defeat two thirds of the British force. With still an hour to go, two K4's a K1 and multiple elements in reserve off table, it didn't look impossible.

When Yuri's K4 was subsequently taken out by the British, the game seemed done, but despite these set backs, the Bolsheviks fought on, with the Tachanka making an appearance on the road to the station building and a full bayonet line (with an HMG) coming out the darkness to attack the Sikh reserve force. The Sikh's responded in kind and despite an interrupting shell from the rear gun carriage of the train, set about hand to hand combat with sporadic opportunity fire.

The game ended with a glorious victory for Rocketman not long afterwards.

Played back to back, RM5 and RM6 took quite a while to get through. Planned as ten evenings in total, we actually ended up playing for thirteen as some of the more ambitious tank battles were just too complex to be rushed.

Chasing Sir John one of the K4's advances past the station building...

...but a rain of grenades and fire from the retreating tanks stops the K4 in its tracks!

Looking for targets Rocketman moves forward only to find Korsakov below him

A well placed grenade (and all eight hero points) knocks out Korsakov's armour

The Bolsehviks commit their reserves, but its too little, too late

The Sikh reserve is engaged by a bayonet charge,
but time has run out and the battle is done

The inferno rages

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